Cosmetic Palette

Fish-shaped cosmetic palette pierced with a hole. Head and tail of fish both broken. Objects like this were used with a pebble to grind minerals such as malachite to make eyepaint. Excavation not recorded but most likely from when Amy Urlin was part of an excavation team led by her brother-in-law, Professor Flinders Petrie, at Abydos, 1900-01. Lent by Amy Urlin to Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, 1912–1915, for an exhibition curated by Janet May Buchanan. On one side is a Glasgow Art Gallery and Museums sticker annotated in pencil with the registration number: 39h –’12.